Gas grills such as may be used for the barbecue of food usually include a gas burner element and a receiving kettle which are made by different manufacturers, sometimes with little or no effort to coordinate the compatibility of those two main components. It has been estimated that there are over 200 different burner kettle configurations, each of which may require a slightly different adaptation of the gas burner element to be mounted therewithin. The frequent result is that the manufacturer of the gas burner element must often furnish features permitting the mounting of that element in any one of several burner kettles so that the top surface of the element is generally parallel and in the proper spaced relationship to the grate upon which food is prepared.
An example of such a burner element is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,267,816. The described burner element includes leg members which are pivotally and extendably attached to the burner element. Each leg member and its associated structure includes three separate pieces, i.e. a leg member supported and secured in position by a relatively expensive support tube and accompanying set screw. Therefore, a total of 12 separate pieces is required to support a burner having the illustrated configuration. In addition, changes in the spacing relationship between the burner element and the underlying kettle floor necessarily requires that the leg member contact the floor at a different point for each selected spacing. While this configuration provides easy, repetitive adjustment, it fails to appreciate that once a burner element is mounted within a particular kettle, the need for subsequent adjustment is virtually eliminated.
There is a need for gas burner elements which use a minimum number of pieces to construct a support element and in particular, there is a need for a burner element which permits selection of a consistent contact surface upon the burner kettle, notwithstanding adjustments in the spaced relationships between the burner element and the floor of the burner kettle. Such a burner element which also includes means for securing the support member and the burner element to one another without human intervention would be a distinct advance in the art.